


Space & Time

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [61]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And Stephen has to suffer because of that, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Captivity, Character Death, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Ebony Maw is a Creep, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Morgan Stark - mentioned, Non-Consensual Touching, Not Tony or Stephen, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Protectiveness, Stephen Strange Bingo 2019, The First Chapter is Gen, The Second One has Ironstrange, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 19:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19026742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: "So strong. You should not even have been able to open your eyes. Your world has chosen it's Stone Keeper well."(Ebony Maw is... intrigued by Stephen. Stephen just wants to curl up into a ball and forget about everything.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cutebutpsycho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cutebutpsycho/gifts).



> Trust @myrxellabaratheon to put the good stuff into my inbox:  
>  _Hello dear angst friend, I have something for you. While Stephen is being tortured in the flying doughnut, the thing that hurts him the most is the memories the needles trigger in him. He’s used to the pain, Dormammu killed him more times than the ones every other human being can remember and his hands are almost always in pain. The needles hurt him, but not as much as the memories of waking up in a hospital bed after every one of the operations he had to gain his hands back._
> 
> The first part is gen, set during Infinity War, while the second is just a short little coda, set 8 years in the future. That one is Ironstrange and contains one tiny little spoiler for Endgame but it's twisted around so that things happened differently than they did in the movie.  
> Please be aware that the first part might be gen but it is also the reason this is a fill for the "Horror" square of my bingo card. Ebony Maw is even nastier to poor Stephen here than he was in IW and there are a few… implications which aren't very nice. I can't do proper horror, sorry. Not my thing. Angst and H/C on the other hand…  
> Title taken from VNV Nation's _Space & Time_. ( _No turning back, face the fact / I am lost in space and time / Turning here, looking back in time_ )
> 
> @badthingshappenbingo prompt: _Unwilling Suspension_ | @stephenstrangebingo prompt: _Horror_

Consciousness returned slowly but his body stayed paralyzed.

_Fuck._

Unable to even open his eyes Stephen concentrated on what he could - it was cold, it smelled strange and he couldn't feel anything at all surrounding his body. He was upright, but his feet didn't touch the floor. He was surrounded by nothing. He was...

Suspended.

In thin air because he couldn't feel anything restraining him, despite being unable to move.

The Hulk. A smashed staircase. Meeting Tony Stark. _Winking_ at Tony Stark. Getting thrown around like a ping-pong ball. Getting choked. An ice-cold hand caressing his face in the mockery of a lover's touch.

If he could have he would have thrown up as the memory hit him like a ton of bricks.

He couldn't say how long it took him but after gathering all of his dwindling reserves he managed to open his eyes - only to wish he'd kept them closed.

He was on a spaceship, no way around it. Floating in frigid air, unable to move and without any hope of rescue. Even the familiar weight of the Cloak was missing. He forced himself to keep his eyes open against all his instincts and tried to take in as much of his surroundings as possible.

Darkness. Cold. Lonely.

"The Sorcerer awakens."

There was a hand on his right side, heavy and ice-cold. Stephen wanted to scream, he wanted to run away, he wanted to throw up. He could do nothing but hang there, suspended high up in the air, helpless and paralyzed. The hand wandered over his body, his sides and his back, high up until it came to rest on the back of his neck. He had felt the touch in excruciating detail on his fully clothed body, on the bare skin of his neck it was a thousand times worse. The cold _burned_ and the fingers - more like talons, really - gripped hard enough to bruise him, maybe even break his skin.

Despite the invisible restraints the managed to shudder.

"So strong. You should not even have been able to open your eyes. Your world has chosen its Stone Keeper well."

On the inside Stephen was laughing hysterically while half-dying from fear, on the outside he still couldn't do anything but stare straight ahead. Suddenly the visage of the alien appeared in from of him. The hand on Stephen's neck moved to his throat and squeezed none too gently in clear warning.

"Strong and proud. A good combination for many things but I am almost out of time. My master awaits me and he expects the Stone. Give in now and spare yourself the pain."

"Never," Stephen forced himself to whisper around the almost bruising grip. His lips were dry and cracked and it felt as if that single word had been wrenched right out of his soul. He hoped that his eyes could communicate the determination he couldn't vocalize.

The hand still holding him in a tight grip squeezed even harder in silent warning. "As you wish. The hard way it is." The alien turned his head and called something a language Stephen couldn't understand. "You had your chance," was whispered directly into his ear. "What happens now could have been avoided, remember that."

At first Stephen didn't understand. Not even when the translucent needles of various sizes and lengths began to descend on to his defenseless body. It wasn't even that bad when they pierced his legs and his back. Chest and stomach could also be endured.

But the moment the needles touched his arms he panicked. Magic in red and gold engulfed his body and tried to push the intruders out of his body but to no avail. Instead they pushed deeper and deeper, penetrating through skin and muscles down into his bones.

Then they touched his hands and fingers.

Stephen screamed despite the magical technology designed to prevent exactly that. His innate magic went crazy and shattered the needles as if they were made out of sugar.

He was still screaming, deaf and blind to his surroundings, when the energy fields holding him went down and he fell to the floor. He curled up in fetal position, still caught in a flashback of horror and pain.

"Not so strong after all, I see. What a pity." Another try to remove the Stone from around the Sorcerer's neck proved to be as futile as the first one, unfortunately, and the frustration was released with a kick to the unprotected side of the human. "Reinforce the emitters and suspend him again. Higher up and horizontal instead of vertical." Another caress of soft, warm skin. It felt so _nice._ Alive and easily breakable. "I want him to feel even more helpless when he wakes up again."

*

Waking up in hospital after his accident had been pure terror. The pain hadn't even been that bad - high-grade painkillers be thanked - but the sight of his hands, suspended before him and held together by metal rods and stitches had been so horrifying that Christine had to hold him down, and try to calm him down before he ripped everything off in a panicked and desperate attempt to _escape_.

There had been no escape. Not from the pain, not from the shaking and the weakness and especially not from the knowledge that this was _it_. No way back; no chance to ever regain the full use of his hands again. He tried anyway, despite knowing that it would be futile and very probably damage them even worse in the long run.

He had to try. Not matter if it took all of his money, the hope of some amount of natural recovery and most of his sanity with it.

He was left destitute, homeless, in more pain than before, and on his way to being addicted to painkillers when he somehow stumbled into his new life full of magic and giant responsibilities he never could have imagined before.

A duty that brought him onto a spaceship, being tortured for an Infinity Stone.

He should have died in that accident; he'd known it all along.

He wasn't strong enough for this.

*

When he came to again he could open his eyes but that only showed him the floor. The new position was even worse for his already dizzy and disoriented senses and would bring another host of problems soon enough if they kept him like this. He could already feel that the circulation in his arms was partially cut off and his hands hurt even more than usual. Defensive magic tingled under his skin but he couldn't access it to try to free himself.

"Fuck," he whispered and when that didn't produce a reaction he knew that he was truly alone for the time being. He closed his eyes again and attempted to gather all of his fading strength to be prepared for the next, inevitable torture session.

When he opened them again the needles where back. Soundlessly, as if they'd been conjured out of thin air. Probably they had been.

The repugnant alien was also back, looking at him with a hunger that was not purely for the time stone. Stephen fought against the threatening nausea once again and dared to take a breath in relief when the thing didn't try to touch him again. Once had been enough for a lifetime.

"In all the time I've served Thanos, I've never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement. Give me... the stone."

The needles descended once again.

But this time he was prepared. When the damn things pierced his body once again he screamed in pain but he could keep his mind in the present by forcing himself to feel the pain and categorize each and every needle that entered his body. _Stay in the present, the past is the past._ He exorcised each and every memory of hospitals and surgeries from his mind, concentrating on the agony of the right here and now.

"Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them..."

The rest was a blur of agony, Tony Stark's voice and the Cloak rescuing him from the vacuum of space.

*

"Hey. Wizard. Come one, we don't have time to lie around and be useless."

Stark's voice was kind, despite the rather harsh words. So were his hands which were busy patting him down, obviously in search of injuries.

"I'm ok…," he started to say only to gasp and bite his tongue when Stark's hand brushed his left side and it _hurt_. Breathing became a difficulty. _It's the same place_ , he realized. _Oh God, it's…_ He squeezed his eyes shut. _No_ , he reminded himself harshly. _Your ribs are not broken, you would have felt it before. You're not in a hospital bed, hooked up to every monitor there is, you're not drowning in your own blood._

"Sorry, sorry, hey, Strange, come back, it's okay."

Stark's right hand was still on his side but without putting pressure on it but his left on was on the right side of Stephen's face, trying to ground him and bring him back to the present.

"I'm here," he whispered, hating how broken he sounded. "Sorry, I don't know what happened."

"You got hurt," Stark said, not unkindly. "And I have to patch you up before you collapse."

"There's nothing broken. It just surprised me. They must have kicked me while I was unconscious."

Stark looked horrified and unconvinced. "You sure about that, Wizard?"

"It's Doctor and yes, I know how broken ribs feel and that's not it."

The pressure returned, but featherlight. "I can help you." The offer was sincere but the thought of stripping down and letting Stark touch him where the alien had touched him only a short while ago… he shuddered.

"No, thank you. I'll manage."

He was sure that Stark had seen more than he was supposed to because he looked sad instead of annoyed at Stephen's refusal.

"Tell me if you change your mind, Doctor." Stark stroked over his face once in a comforting gesture before he withdrew and stood up. "Come on now. We need to figure out where we are and how to fly this thing."

Stephen took the offered hand and let Stark help him up. All the way to the bridge he pretended to not notice how Stark looked at him with barely hidden concern and empathy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight years late the worlds looks a lot better for Stephen. He's found love and a family who helps, supports and cherishes him.

"The bastard kicked you, didn't he?"

Tony carefully traced his left side, lingering on the spot where he'd flinched so long ago.

It took Stephen a moment to make the connection. "Hmm," he finally agreed. "I think so, yes. I was unconscious when it happened." He hadn't thought about that one in ages.

"I was so afraid for you back then."

Stephen smiled at that. "No, you weren't. You didn't know me, you were busy worrying about Peter and the world. There was no place for me back then."

"There is now. You _are_ my world, Stephen." Tony carefully arranged him on his right side and Stephen followed the wordless command willingly. He'd learned the hard way that it was better to let Tony have his way when he was in a mood like this. Tony bent down to kiss his side, just over the scars of the drainage tubes from after his accident.

"I'm sorry that you got hurt and that that filthy animal got his hands on you."

Stephen turned to lie on his back and invited Tony to rest on his chest. It was an unusual pose for them, normally it was the other way round with him cradled in the safety of Tony's arms. "It was nothing," he said, not for the first time, and put his left arm around Tony.

"He touched and hurt you. That's not nothing."

Stephen sighed. It was an old argument that would probably never be resolved. "You saved me before worse could happen." _In more ways than one_ , he didn't add.

It was Tony who had found him months after Thanos' defeat, hurting in body and soul, drinking too much and on his way to once again being addicted to painkillers. It had been Tony, himself hurting from losing Pepper, who had taken him in and refused to give up on him.

It had been Tony and Morgan who showed him that he was still worthy of love and care. He tried to repay their kindness and love by trying to get better and be worthy of their affections. It was an ongoing fight but by now there were nights he could sleep through without nightmares. There were nights _Tony_ could sleep through without waking up screaming, begging Pepper to put the damn gauntlet down and let him do it instead. There wasn't a drop of alcohol here, in their house, or in the Sanctum and painkillers where for the really bad days.

There was a little girl that had accepted him as some kind of second father figure, who loved him and who had learned to be careful with his damaged hands after only one small mishap.

"We saved each other." Tony's quiet words, full of love and conviction, broke him out of his reminiscing. "No wallowing in the past, my love."

"You began."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I just saw the scars and…"

He didn't finish, didn't have to. Stephen tightened his hold around his lover and tried to convey his feelings without having to speak about them. "They're from my accident, not that day."

"I figured that one out ages ago, actually."

"Of course you did."

"I hacked into your medical history after I found you." Stephen shuddered at the reminder of his lowest point, when Tony had found him after he'd overdosed on painkillers and alcohol. The day Tony had stopped accepting his excuses and had taken him home to detox and recover while Morgan spent a few weeks with Happy and May. "I read the reports, I saw the pictures…"

"Not a pretty sight."

"No," Tony agreed. "You made an amazing recovery, Stephen. _You_ are amazing." He kissed Stephen's left cheekbone, exactly where it had been broken in the accident. It was a wonder that he hadn't lost the eye; a miracle that he could still see.

With his left hand busy holding Tony in place he held up his right. It shook, more than it had eight years ago. Age and health hadn't been kind to him. "I know," he finally said. "I should have died that day, in the water." _Or on other occasions_ , but he didn't say that out loud.

"I'm glad you didn't. Morgan would miss you terribly and so would I." Tony pressed a kiss against his chest, near his heart. Stephen put his hand down to hold him as tightly as possible. He didn't even try to fight against the tears the quiet words had evoked.

"So am I," he whispered against Tony's almost completely grey hair and closed his eyes. "So am I."

 _I love you_ , hung in the air between them. Seldom spoken, but even more precious for that.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Tumblr post with cards and everything.](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/185249085551/spacetime/) Thank you for reading! 💫

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fanart for "Space & Time"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579544) by [Aelaer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelaer/pseuds/Aelaer)




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